Jet Airways was incorporated as a limited liability company on 1 April 1992, with capital investment obtained from Tail Winds, a company registered in Isle of Man[11]
by his children Nivaan Goyal and Namrata Goyal.[12][6] It started operations as an air taxi operator on 5 May 1993, operating flight 9W321 from Bombay to Ahmedabad.[13] In its first financial year, Jet airways served 12 destinations in India and carried 663,000 passengers and had a 6.6% market share.[14] The airline had a fleet of four Boeing 737-300 aircraft[15] leased from Ansett Worldwide, making it the first operator of the type in the country.[16][17]
By the next year, it was India's second largest private airline, having carried 1.7 million passengers in 1994.[18] The fleet grew to seven aircraft, including three Boeing 737-400 aircraft leased from Malaysian Airlines.[18] On 12 May 1994, all of Jet Airways' shares were transferred to Tailwinds International, whose equity capital was held by Naresh Goyal (60%), Gulf Air (20%) and Kuwait Airways (20%).

The airline was granted a scheduled airline status on 14 January 1995.[6][19] It entered into a marketing agreement with KLM the same year.[18] In 1996, the airline placed a $375 million[20] order for four 737-400 and six 737-800 aircraft from Boeing,[21] which were delivered between 1997 and 2000. Jet Airways was the first airline in Southeast Asia to order the 737-800.[22] In the financial year 1996-97, the airline carried 2.4 million passengers and had a marketshare of 20 percent, second highest after state-owned Indian Airlines. By this time, the airline had a fleet of twelve Boeing 737 aircraft, operating 83 daily flights to 23 domestic destinations.[23] In 1997, the Cabinet Committee On Foreign Investment (CCFI) of the Government of India announced that foreign airlines would no longer be permitted to take an equity stake in joint ventures with Indian aviation companies, reversing the Government's earlier policy which had allowed carriers such as Gulf Air, Kuwait Airways and Lufthansa to hold a maximum 40% equity stake in their joint ventures with Indian partners.[24] In October 1997, as per this directive, Naresh Goyal took back control of Trade Winds from its foreign investors.[25][6]

At the Paris Air Show in June 1999, Jet Airways announced an order worth approximately $550 million for ten Boeing 737-800 aircraft.[22]
The airline purchased its first Boeing 737-400 simulator from CAE Inc. in 2001.[26]
By April 2001, the airline fleet had grown to 30 aircraft and was operating over 195 flights daily to 37 destinations within India.[27] Jet Airways suffered losses for the first time since its establishment in financial year 2001-2002 as demand fell and costs increased.[28] Jet Airways was announced as launch customer for the Embraer 175 at the Farnborough air show in 2002,[29] with an order for 10 aircraft and 10 options[30] worth $520 million. But the deal was postponed due the airline's financial difficulties and eventually fell through.[31]
In 2003, the Indian government decided to allow private carriers to operate international services to countries in south Asia, such as Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
[32]and Jet began preparations to launch international services.[33]
The airline launched its first international flight in March 2004 from Chennai to Colombo.[34]

Jet Airways was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and became public company on 28 December 2004.[6] After the Government lifted the foreign ownership limits on Indian airlines to 49% from the previous 40%, the airline moved to raise funds via an IPO.[35] The company's IPO in February 2005, which offered 20% of the airline's stock, saw strong interest from investors leading to oversubscription in retail, non-institutional and institutional tranches[36] and raised Rs 18.9 billion, instantly making Naresh Goyal a paper billionaire.[37] Towards the end of 2004, the government had announced that privately owned scheduled carriers meeting certain criteria could operate to all countries apart from those in the Middle East.[38] Then in January 2005, the Ministry of Civil Aviation granted rights to Jet Airways to operate services to London Heathrow. [38] The airline started its first international, long-haul flight to London in May 2005[39] with two-class Airbus A340-300s sub-leased from South African Airways.[40]

In January 2006,Jet Airways announced its intention to acquire Air Sahara for US$500 million in an all-cash deal; however, the deal fell through in June 2006.[41] On 12 April 2007, the deal was back on track with Jet Airways agreeing to pay ₹14.5 billion (US$200 million).[42] On 16 April 2007, Air Sahara was renamed as JetLite and was marketed between a low-cost carrier and a full service airline.[43] JetLite became a wholly owned subsidiary of Jet Airways.[44] In August 2008, Jet Airways announced its plans to integrate JetLite into Jet Airways.[45] In October 2008, Jet Airways laid off 1,900 of its employees, who were later re-instated due to intervention from the Ministry of Civil Aviation.[46][47] In October 2008, Jet Airways entered into an alliance with rival Kingfisher Airlines for code-sharing on domestic and international flights, collaboration on frequent-flyer program and sharing crew and ground handling equipment.[48] On 8 May 2009, Jet Airways launched another low-cost brand, Jet Konnect.[43][49] It operated a fleet of Boeing 737 Next Generation and ATR 72 aircraft and operated on profitable short-haul routes with higher passenger load factors.[50][51]

In the third quarter of 2010, Jet Airways became the largest airline in India with a passenger market share of 22.6%.[52] In July 2012, the airline officially sought government approval to join Star Alliance.[53] Jet Airways is not a member of Star Alliance as of 2017.[54] In June 2011, it became the first domestic airline in India to ban meat products and liquids in check-in baggage.[55] Jet Airways merged the JetLite brand into Jet Konnect on 25 March 2012 and started offering business-class seats after the demise of Kingfisher Airlines.[56][57][58] In 2013, Etihad Airways planned to buy a stake in the airline following the government's announcement in September 2012 that foreign airlines could take a stake of up to 49% in Indian carriers. On 24 April 2013, Jet announced that it was ready to sell a 24% stake in the airline to Etihad for US$379 million.[59][60] The deal which was expected to be signed in January 2013 was postponed and was completed on 12 November 2013.[61][62][63][64]
Naresh Goyal retained 51% ownership of the stock.[65]

In 2013, the airline lowered prices and entered into fare war with low-cost carriersIndiGo and SpiceJet due to falling passenger demand.[66][67][68][69] In February 2013, the airline's market value dropped by ₹4.84 billion (US$67 million) owing to falling share prices.[70][71] Jet Airways made profits in the third quarter of the financial year 2013–14, after posting losses over the previous year.[72][73] Jet Airways announced on 11 August 2014 that it would phase out Jet Konnect by the end of the year as part of plans to re-position itself as a uniform full-service operator.[74] On 1 December 2014, Jet Konnect was fully merged with Jet Airways, making it the third full-service airline in India besides Air India and Vistara.[75][76] In December 2015, Jet Airways announced the closure of its scissor hub at Brussels Airport by March 2016 and the opening of new hub at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport effective 27 March 2016.[77][78] As of February 2016, it is the second largest airline in India after IndiGo with a 21.2% passenger market share.[79]

As of November 2018, Jet Airways has been reported as facing a negative financial outlook due to increasing losses. Therefore cost cutting measures as well as talks have been started with potential investors or buyers.[80]

The airline's head office is located at Siroya Center in Andheri, Mumbai.[81] The head office was previously located at S. M. Center, a rented six-storey building in Andheri and was moved following criticism regarding the working conditions.[82][83]

Jet Airways' original livery was designed by Lowe (Lintas then).[84] It was navy blue with light grey and chrome yellow.[85] The top and bottom of the aircraft were painted in light grey with the flying sun logo in the navy blue background.

In 2007, a new livery was created by Landor Associates which added yellow and gold ribbons; the design retained the dark blue and gold-accented colour scheme along with the airline's "flying sun" logo.[85] A new yellow uniform was simultaneously introduced, created by Italian designer Roberto Capucci.[85] Jet Airways introduced its new identity in conjunction with a global brand re-launch which included new aircraft and seating.[85]

The company is listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange. 51% of the stock is owned by Naresh Goyal through his company Tailwinds International and the remaining 49% by other investors.[65] The following table presents the key trends for Jet Airways and its subsidiaries:

Asmin Tariq, a contractor working for the airline as a security agent at Heathrow airport was implicated in the foiled terror plot on 10 August 2006 to blow up several transatlantic airliners belonging to three different US airlines.[96] Subsequently, the Governments of UK and Singapore inquired security-related information from the Ministry of External Affairs on Jet Airways; clearance was further delayed to fly to the US.[96] The US State Department gave the go-ahead for the airline to fly to the US on 15 November 2006.[97]

In August 2014, two pilots of Jet Airways were suspended after a plane carrying 280 passengers dropped 5,000 feet (1,500 m) mid-air en route from Mumbai to Brussels.[98]

On 2 December 2016, Jet Airways flight 9W7083 from Bhopal to Mumbai was held up by a large group of passengers headed for a wedding in Mumbai. There were allegations from other passengers that the wedding party was politically connected and attempted to coerce the cabin crew to disembark passengers, so that additional members of their party could be accommodated. The airline claimed it was a technical glitch in their booking system which led to overbooking.[99]

In 2016, the airline was implicated in the Gupta family controversy in South Africa when it was alleged by former African National Congress MP Vytjie Mentor that members of the business family had offered her the position of Minister of Public Enterprises, on behalf of President Jacob Zuma, if she agreed to arrange for South African Airways to drop their India route so that Jet Airways could acquire it instead.[100][101][102]

On 12 December 2001, an internal memo from the Indian intelligence agencies RAW and IB to the Indian home ministry stated that they had evidence that Jet airways had intermittent contact with Dawood Ibrahim, Chota Shakeel and other gangs of the Indian underworld, related to financial transactions.[103] This information was leaked out to the media and the parliament proceedings were stalled.[104]
Subsequently in 2016, reports surfaced that the initial investment for Jet airways itself had come through shell companies from Isle of Man, and was heavily funded by the Indian underworld.[105] This was documented in detail in the book A feast of vultures.[106]

As per its website, Jet Airways serves 67 destinations including 47 domestic and 20 international destinations in 15 countries across Asia, Europe and North America.[3] The airline has its primary hub at Mumbai and secondary bases at Bangalore and Delhi. In March 2004, the airline introduced its first international destination Colombo with flights connecting to Chennai.[34]London was the airline's first long-haul destination and was launched in 2005.[107] Since 2007, Jet Airways has had a scissors hub at Brussels Airport for onward transatlantic connections to North America, which was replaced by Amsterdam Schiphol Airport from 27 March 2016.[77]

In 2008, the airline was forced to discontinue international routes because these attracted losses due to global economic downturn; it terminated services to San Francisco and Shanghai.[108] The airline planned to restore the Mumbai–Shanghai route by the end of 2011 but never did so.[109] In 2012, the airline withdrew flights to New York and closed the Delhi–Milan route in 2013.[110][111] On 1 March 2016, the airline announced the integration of domestic and international operations in Mumbai airport and moved its entire operations to the newly constructed Terminal 2.[112]
In 2018, Jet airways announced a new destination, Manchester in UK. It will start operations to Manchester from its hub, Mumbai from November. It would be the first airline to connect Manchester with India.

Jet Airways placed its first order for four Boeing 737-400 and 30 Boeing 737-800 aircraft on 11 December 1996; and the first aircraft was delivered on 12 November 1997.[115] It placed its second order for six Boeing 737-700 and two Boeing 737-900 aircraft on 14 June 1999 with deliveries starting in May 2001.[115] On 5 January 2012, it inducted five ATR 72-600 series aircraft to operate on domestic regional routes.[50] Long-haul routes are served using its fleet of Airbus A330-200, Airbus A330-300 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The airline placed an order for 10 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on 29 September 2005 which were delivered in 2007.[115] Jet Airways ordered 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft on 29 December 2006 to operate on long-haul routes.[115][121] It placed a further order for 75 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft on 23 April 2013 as part of modernisation of its fleet of 737s.[115][119] In April 2018 and July 2018 the airline entered an agreement to acquire an additional 75 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft each, taking its order tally to 225 Boeing 737 MAX jets.[122][123]

Jet Airways has three classes of service: First, Première (Business) and Economy.[114]

First class is available only in Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.[114] The first class offers private suites; it features seats convertible to a fully flat bed, personal LCD TVs and in-seat power supply.[124]

Economy class on long-haul aircraft has a 32 inches (810 mm) seat pitch with a footrest and the cabin is configured in 2-4-2 on the Airbus A330-200 and 3-4-3 on the Boeing 777-300ER. Economy seats on the Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 have a personal 10.6 inches (270 mm) touchscreen LCD TV.[126] Domestic flights operated by Boeing 737 aircraft have Première and Economy classes and the ATR 72–500 have an all-economy class configuration.[114] Economy class on Boeing 737 have a 30 inches (760 mm) seat pitch with personal LCD behind each seat.[126] Meals are not served in economy class on domestic routes.[124][125][126]

Jet Airways has a Panasonic eFX flight entertainment system on board the Boeing 737 aircraft and Panasonic eX2 entertainment system on board the Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 aircraft. The system, known as JetScreen, offers on-demand programming and operates via an individual touchscreen monitor on each seat.[127] In 2012, the airline introduced a feature called eXport on their Airbus A330s, which allows passengers to plug-in their personal Apple devices.[128] In February 2016, Jet Airways announced the introduction of an in-flight entertainment service for streaming of entertainment content directly to Wi-Fi enabled personal devices of the passengers.[129]

JetPrivilege is the airline's Frequent-flyer program. A member can earn JPMiles during travel which can be redeemed during future bookings.[130] JetPrivilege offers five classes namely: Blue, Blue plus, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Gold and Platinum members get access to Jet Airways' lounges and can avail additional benefits such as priority check-in, extra baggage allowance and priority baggage handling.[131]

1 July 2007: Jet Airways Flight 3307, an ATR 72-212A (registered VT-JCE), flying on the Bhopal-Indore route was involved in an accident caused by bad weather. There were no fatalities amongst the 45 passengers and four crew but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair and written off.[133]

19 September 2018: Flight 697 going from Mumbai to Jaipur with 166 passengers and five crew members returned to Mumbai after some passengers complained of ear pain and nose bleeding due to the loss in cabin pressure. Medical help was given to 30 passengers.[134]